Lawhon, Alan C Contractor/Morgan Research
alan.lawhon at us.army.mil
Fri Dec 17 10:38:50 CST 2004
I have recently bought a copy of Rick Dobson's book: "Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET for Microsoft Access Databases". Rick's book looks like a treasure trove full of valuable information that will help us "web enable" an environmental database application here at work. In the "Introduction" (page "xx") under "System Requirements," Rick states that you need a copy of "Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Version 2002" installed on your machine in order to run the sample code from the book. (Rick used the "Enterprise Developer" edition, but he says that the "Professional" edition will also work.) I would like to obtain a (relatively inexpensive) copy - if possible - of Visual Studio, install it on my home computer, and start "playing around" with VB.NET - and working my way thru the examples in Rick's book. Since I am not a "professional" developer, I don't have an MSDN subscription, so I can't get a "free copy" of Visual Studio [from Microsoft] via that route. I've been to Amazon.com's web site (where I buy all my books). I can get a fresh [brand new] copy of "Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional Special Edition" for $699.00 - which is kind of steep for me ... (In fact, there's NO WAY I'm going to pay $700.00 out of my own pocket for a piece of software that I'll basically be using for training purposes.) I have heard that Microsoft passes out free copies of Visual Studio if you can trick your customer into sending you to one of Microsoft's week-long development seminars. I have a feeling we won't be very successful with that option either. (Our customer got "burned" once before by a previous crew of "developers" who hornswaggled their way into a bunch of very expensive Oracle training. After the training, they spruced up their resumes and immediately left for jobs elsewhere with the result that our customer received no return for their "training investment". They are now very wary about paying for any kind of "professional development" or IT training. We are basically expected to either already know what we need to know, or pick it up on our own - which is no big problem for me. My problem is that I'm hoping there is some way I can obtain a (relatively inexpensive) copy of "Visual Studio .NET Version 2002" for (maybe) a couple of hundred bucks - $250.00 at most - if that is reasonable for a new "authentic" unopened box. I've run across some private sellers on the internet who are offering "used" copies of Visual Studio at various prices, but I'm not sure I want to go that route - mainly due to uncertainty about what I might actually be getting - and questions about whether or not Microsoft will support my purchase. (I've always bought "full up" brand new copies of Microsoft software just to avoid legal hassles. I know ... that makes me a sap, but I'll never be arrested by the FBI or carted off to prison for piracy, so it all works out in the long run.) If any of you have an idea or suggestion, I will be very grateful for your advice. I may go ahead and split for the $699.00 copy from Amazon.com, but only as a last resort ... (I'm looking for the cheapest "legal" copy of Visual Studio that I can get.) Alan C. Lawhon